Abraham Lincoln 16th President of the United States served from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Born in Kentucky, , he grew up in settlements in Indiana and Illinois. Lincoln’s mother died when he was only 9. It was his stepmother, Sarah that encouraged his love of reading, learning and Learn More.

During the Civil War, the illustrated newspapers hired artists to follow the armies and send back sketches and drawings which were then engraved and published. Local artists in the path of the war also sent drawings to the publishers as did military personnel. Naval officers sent drawings of their ships and the Learn More.

Magazines and Illustrated Newspapers 1800s. The illustrated newspaper became a significant news medium in the mid 19th Century. The three major ones in the United States were Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper started in 1855, Harper’s Weekly in 1857 and the New York Illustrated News in 1859. Learn More.

When early man first learned to use and make fire, he found a way to warm his surroundings, cook his food and light the darkness. A burning branch or torch was man’s first “lamp.” The first true lamps were made of hollowed-out stone, wood, bone or shell. They used fat drippings for fuel Learn More.

Early American Pottery In 1684, Daniel Coxe built a pottery in Burlington, New Jersey and by 1735 potters in Pennsylvania were making redware. Other early potteries operated in New England, New York and the mid-Atlantic states. About 1800, the more durable stoneware became popular and Learn More.

Edwin Forbes, 1839-1895. Born in New York, his career as an illustrator began in 1861 when he became a staff artist for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. He recorded the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac from Cross Keys in the Shenandoah Valley to the battles at Manassas in 1862 andLearn More.

George Catlin (1796-1872) a lawyer, portrait painter and author, wandered alone painting among the Native Americans of the American West. Often the first white man the Indians had ever seen, they permitted him to live with them and to witness and record their daily lives and ceremonies. Learn More.

Thomas Nast, 1840-1902. Born in Bavaria, he came to New York in 1846. At fifteen he became a draftsman for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated. He briefly worked for the New York Illustrated News and the Illustrated London News. In 1861 Nast became a staff artist for Harper’s Weekly. Considered to be Learn More.

Winslow Homer, 1836-1910. Born in Boston, he began work as a lithographer at age nineteen but soon switched to illustration and painting. His magazine engravings appeared in Harper's Weekly, Ballou's Pictorial, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and others. In 1957 he moved to New York and Learn More.

Carte de visites are a thin paper photograph, usually an albumen print, mounted on a card. The mounted cards are approximately 2.5 by 4 inches. These photographic cards or visiting cards became very popular in the 1850s when they began to reproduce images of famous people. They were traded and Learn More.

Usually fossils are the hard parts of animals such as teeth, bones and shells and wood--some preserved with little or no alteration. Fossils of soft parts are rare but can be found in amber, the hardened resin of ancient trees, and in shale where plants and marine animals have left behind a thin Learn More.

In the Hopi tradition, the Katsina or Kachina are the spirits of deities, natural elements, animals, or deceased ancestor. Prior to each Kachina ceremony, the men of the village made dolls in the likeness of the Kachinam represented in that particular ceremony. The dolls were then passed on Learn More.

Mary McAboy first started making Skookum Bully Good Indian dolls in 1913 and received a patent for them in 1914. Skookum dolls were popular from the early 1920s until the 1960s. They were factory made dolls that resembled Native American people. They were sold to the tourists at trading posts in the Western Learn More.